We have 2 Dell computers, a Pentium II and a Pentium III. The II has an 80 gig hard drive; the III has a 20 gig hard drive. Both run Windows XP Pro and both are on dial-up connection. When I download to the II, my transfer rate is more than double the rate when I download to the III. Any explanation? Anything I can do to speed up the III? Thank you.

What are the MHz speeds of the processors?

What are the RPM speeds of the hard drives?

How much free space is on the hard drives?

How much RAM repectively?

I'm not a real wiz at delving into the innards of a computer, so the following is the only information I can give you now: Pentium II - 66.9 GB of free space, 4.00 MB RAM.
Pentium III - 13 GB free space, 16.00 MB RAM.
If you tell me how to find the other information you need, I will be more than happy to update this post.
Thanks for answering.

Try this scan & post back the info for each computer under the headers:

Processor

Memory Modules

Drives

http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html

Here is the information from Belarc:
Pentium II:
Processor - 400 megahertz Intel Pentium II
32 Kilobyte primary memory cache
512 Kilobyte secondary memory cache
Drives - 80.02 GB Usable Hard Drive Capacity
71.84 GB Hard Drive Free Space
Memory Modules - 128 MB Installed Memory
Slot 'DIMM A' has 32 MB
Slot 'DIMM B' has 32 MB
Slot 'DIMM C' has 64 MB

Pentium III:
Process - 500 megahertz Intel Pentium III
32 kilkobyte primary memory cache
512 kilobyte secondary memory cache
Drives - 20.47 GB Usable Hard Drive Capacity
13.98 GB Hard Drive Free Space
Memory Modules - 256 MB Installed Memory
Slot 'J6J1' has 128 MB
Slot 'J6J2' has 64 MB
Slot 'J7J1" has 64 MB

Downloading Belarc on both computers was a perfect case in point! The Pentium II took less than 5 minutes to load; the Pentium III took more than 7 minutes to load!

You are using the same connection for both? Are they networked?

The processors as to speed are quite similar. I don't think there should be a noticeable difference there.
However the RAM adds more confusion as the PII has only 128MB which is a very bare minimum for XP. The PIII has 256MB which is the official minimum for XP.
I would think the 128MB would be a problem.

The other point I was looking for was the hard drive ID in order to check the RPM.
What was the last line in the Drives section of Belarc?
This is mine for example:
Maxtor 6Y060L0 [Hard drive] (61.49 GB) -- drive 0, s/n Y2S89MDE, rev YAR41VW0, SMART Status: Healthy

Also what are the exact models of Dell?

The computers are both stand-alone, no network.

PII:WDC WD800BB-00JHAO [Hard Drive] (80.03 GB - drive 0, s/n WMAM96280618, rev 95.01C05, SMART. Status: Healthy


PIII: Maxtor 92049U3 [Hard Drive] (20.48 GB) - drive 0, s/n N308FYVC, rev BAC5IJJO, SMART. Status: Healthy.

There is one more thing I forgot to mention: I recently installed a new 56K dial-up modem in PIII and my ISP keeps saying that it is improperly configured. I can connect to the Internet and, frankly, don't know what the ISP is talking about. When I run the Modem troubleshooter, Microsoft says the modem is working okay.

The PII has a faster hard drive:

WDC WD800BB Western Digital 80 GB 7200 RPM ATA/100

Whereas the PIII Maxtor 92049U3 Maxtor DiamondMax 60 Model 92049U3 20.4 GB 5400 RPM ATA/66

This would indeed produce a difference.

____________________________________

"I recently installed a new 56K dial-up modem in PIII and my ISP keeps saying that it is improperly configured."

What is the exact source & text of this error message?

Were your download speeds different before this Modem?

How is the PII connected?

The source of the error message is a connection wizard provided by my ISP. According to the system checks in the PIII, everything seems to be as it should be. The reason I put in a new modem was because the download speeds were so very slow. Nothing has changed for better or for worse!
Thank you for trying so hard to help me. I do appreciate it and have actually learned a few things from you. Thank you again!